


Changeling

by Sera_The_Dragon



Category: Original Work
Genre: Adoption, Cages, Character Death, Gen, Shapeshifting
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-12
Updated: 2021-03-11
Packaged: 2021-03-18 23:20:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,438
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29990352
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sera_The_Dragon/pseuds/Sera_The_Dragon
Summary: Shy, awkward, and somewhat childish, Changeling “Angel” Mazaki seemed to be an ordinary girl... until it was discovered that in times of stress, she transforms into a powerful monster.





	Changeling

It was hard being the way she was, but at least Mr. Gordon cared for her.

Changeling scratched at the floor of her kennel, bored out of her mind. Mr. Gordon always said that the cage was there to protect her and everyone around her. She didn’t hate it, but it got kind of lonely sometimes. That’s why one of her friends gave her Schnook, a little plush turtle with a speaker inside it. Whenever she squeezed his paw, he said “You’re my best buddy!” It helped, but not a lot.

Really, Changeling just wanted to be outside the cage with all her friends. Grey was nice to her, even though he knew what happened to her when she got angry or scared. Everyone else was nice too, but not like Grey. Nobody could be nice like Grey.

Changeling grabbed Schnook and squeezed his paw. “You’re my best buddy!” he shouted cheerfully.

“I know, Schnook,” she replied.

The bell on the door rang. Changeling sprang up, barely able to contain her excitement. Everyone was going to come back inside! This was the only time she was allowed outside the kennel, and she loved it. She couldn’t wait to say hi to Grey and all the other kids.

“Changeling! We’re back!”

Changeling’s heart leaped as she saw the man. His kind brown eyes and soft embrace always made her feel so safe, and his kindness was always at the forefront of his actions.

“Hi, Mr. Gordon!” Changeling waited patiently for him to open the door to her cage, and the first thing she did when she came out was give him a big hug. She loved Mr. Gordon like a father.

“Hey, girl! Are you ready for your outside time?”

Changeling felt as if she was going to burst with excitement. “Yes, I am, Mr. Gordon! And I’ll be real good too!”

Mr. Gordon laughed. Changeling always thought his voice was like chocolate, sweet and rich and milky (if it was possible to describe a voice as being “milky.”) She liked how his laughter came from the heart.

“Changeling!” Grey’s high voice caught the girl’s attention, and before she could say anything she was wrapped up in his arms. She quickly hugged her best friend back, smiling and giggling.

“Are you ready to play?” she asked, bouncing up and down on her heels.

For the next hour, all the kids in the orphanage played together. Suzy showed off the cool rocks that she found while everyone was outside. Ryota pulled out a toy chest with a bunch of plastic swords and everyone decided to play pirates. The kids ran about the building, making up silly stories about their ragtag pirate crew sailing the high seas. Mr. Gordon waved from the kitchen at everyone, beaming.

Changeling liked to listen to Hiro play the piano. Grey played the drums because he loved to smash them, and Changeling was hoping that one day she could learn the violin because it made such a pretty sound, but Hiro’s talent was nearly unrivaled. He was the oldest kid there at thirteen years old, so he’d had plenty of time to practice his craft. He didn’t write any songs, but the ones he played were always moving. Whenever she listened to Hiro play the piano, Changeling felt at ease, like she could finally control the monster inside her that threatened to come out at any moment.

“Can you play the one about the moon?” she asked hopefully. The moonlight song was her favorite. Hiro nodded. He didn’t like to talk, but he was still nice. Changeling made sure to thank him as he started playing the first chords of the haunting melody.

She liked to imagine herself finally meeting the monster. Placing a hand on its scaly snout. Holding its hands. Changeling liked to imagine her and the monster being friends. Even though she knew it would never be a possibility, it was nice for her to think about it.

The hour finally ended, and Changeling was returned to her cage. Grey and Hiro brought her a gift: a small violin. Grey said Hiro was going to start teaching her how to play. Changeling beamed at the sound.

Once everyone was done saying their goodbyes, she curled up and let sleep claim her.

It wasn’t always great, but she loved her life. She wouldn’t trade it for anything.

* * *

One by one, all her friends left with new families. Suzy left behind a bunch of sparkly rocks for her friends to remember her. Ryota let everyone keep the pet fish he always took care of. Hiro left a book of music lessons for anyone who wanted to keep learning. Even Grey had to go eventually.

“I’ll miss you lots, Changeling,” he said with tears in his eyes.

“Me too.” Mr. Gordon let Changeling out of her cage on that special occasion, so she could hug her best friend goodbye.

Days passed. Then weeks, then months, and then a whole year had gone by.

Nobody came for Changeling.

“Don’t worry, sweetie,” Mr. Gordon said. “Someday, we’ll find you a forever home.”

Changeling would never admit it, but part of her hoped he was wrong. She wanted to stay with him forever. Nobody else understood her as he did.

* * *

Everything changed the day he died.

Nobody could have predicted it. Mr. Gordon was young and healthy, so he should have lived a long life.

Should have.

The doctors said he had a fatal stroke. There was nothing they could have done, they said. Even though Changeling begged them to save him, begged them to bring back the only friend she had left, they took her back to the orphanage.

They didn’t know she was supposed to go in the kennel. How could they know how dangerous she could be? How could they know her secret, the one Mr. Gordon had guarded so closely for as long as he’d known her?

It hurt to transform into the monster, but Changeling was so overwhelmed with grief that she didn’t care about the pain. All that was there in her mind was the memories of all the time she had spent with Mr. Gordon and her friends from the year before, and her mourning slowly boiled into a blind rage as the monster took control.

Lots of people were hurt before somebody new stepped in. An elderly woman with kinky black hair and a hard expression. She claimed to be Mr. Gordon’s next of kin, whatever that meant, and said that she would be taking care of the orphanage that her relative had left behind.

It was a nightmare. The first thing they did was place a padlock on the door to Changeling’s kennel. She wasn’t allowed outside the cage at all anymore, and the lady and her husband took away Schnook, the last reminder of her friends from times long past. They treated her like an animal. She was hidden from the other kids, or even used to threaten them with phrases like “Don’t make me get the demon girl!”

Sometimes, at night, the lady’s husband would poke Changeling with a long, sharp metal stick. It hurt pretty badly, and sometimes he would draw blood. When that happened, she would get so scared that she’d turn again, curling up in the corner of her kennel and growling defensively. Soon, she began to feel hopeless.

Day after day, the little girl remained in her cage, which was now hidden under a thick blanket, waiting patiently for the day when she would finally be able to escape the nightmare. She wanted Mr. Gordon back. She wanted Grey back. She wanted all her friends back.

Mostly, she just wanted Mrs. Wheatley gone.

She didn’t hear the doorbell ringing as a visitor came in, but she definitely heard Mrs. Wheatley.

“Welcome, young man!” The lady’s voice was old and cracked like a sidewalk when it filled up with ice. “What brings you here?”

Changeling panicked, curling up into a tight ball and pretending to be asleep. Secretly, she kept listening in on the conversation outside.

A man’s voice spoke calmly. It reminded Changeling of Mr. Gordon. “I’m Tomoya Mazaki, and I was hoping I could—”

“Adopt someone! Of course!” Mrs. Wheatley interrupted Tomoya. “Right this way.” Changeling heard two sets of feet slowly approaching and started trembling in fear. She hoped with all her heart that Mrs. Wheatley wouldn’t hurt her.

She was startled when she heard Tomoya say “What’s in the cage, miss?”

“Nothing you want a part of,” Mrs. Wheatley said sternly before returning to the cheerful disposition that she only had with people who weren’t Changeling. “Come, let me introduce you to the children!”

The filtered light seeping through the fabric of the blanket that covered her cage suddenly became much brighter. Changeling resisted the urge to open her eyes.

“A child?!”

Mrs. Wheatley gasped. “No! You must not awaken it!”

Changeling could bear her curiosity no longer. She slowly opened her eyes, pretending to be groggy from sleep. “Mmph…” She shifted a little bit, pushing herself up into a sitting position and looking ahead of her with bleary eyes.

The man was somewhere in his middle-age years, with small creases lining his cheekbones and forehead. His hair was a dark brown color, standing out against his pale skin. His eyes were wide with shock and his mouth was open--he must not have expected to see her in the kennel. Changeling didn’t blame him. After all, none of the other kids needed cages.

She wanted so badly to ask who he was, but she was entranced by something about him. There was a feeling deep inside her, that maybe, just maybe, this would be the day when everything changed.

Tomoya turned toward Mrs. Wheatley with fury in his eyes, hands clenched and face flushed. “I suppose you have a good reason for confining this girl in a cage?” he demanded.

Mrs. Wheatley scoffed and crossed her arms. “It is no girl!”

Footsteps started approaching from down the left hallway. Changeling’s breathing quickened and she clasped her hands together over her head. She knew without looking that Mr. Wheatley was coming and that he was probably bringing the sharp metal rod that he used to jab her.

“It’s a changeling,” he said. He spoke with a heavy American accent. “A monster.”

Changeling became defensive. She hated being called a monster. It wasn’t her fault she turned sometimes. It wasn’t her fault she couldn’t control it. “I’m not a monster!” she cried. “I’m a normal girl, just like all the others!”

“Quiet!” Mr. Wheatley drove the freshly sharpened pick into Changeling’s leg. She cried out in pain, and it wasn’t long before the distress got to her and she shifted. She pressed herself against the farthest corner of the kennel, snarling in the hopes of warning them to stay away. Once she was satisfied with the distance put between her and the others, she turned her head around and began licking the wound.

“My god…” Tomoya didn’t know how to react. Seeing the beast that Changeling had become startled him beyond words.

Mrs. Wheatley gestured to Changeling, a look of contempt on her face. “That is its true form,” she said. “It’s waiting for someone foolish enough to take it in, so it can wreak havoc in their life. We are keeping it here so that nobody else has to suffer from its curse.”

Slowly, the monster’s form changed back into the little girl, whimpering quietly and turning away from the three adults. She was sure she’d blown it. Tomoya would never want to adopt a monster girl. Nobody would. She squeezed her eyes shut and wrapped her arms around her knees, trying to muffle her cries.

Tomoya sighed. “Shapeshifter or not, keeping her caged like this is inhumane.”

“You think you’re so smart, don’t you?” Mr. Wheatley snarled, banging on the kennel. Changeling fought back her fear in order to resist transforming again. “Maybe  _ you’d  _ like to deal with the little demon, then?”

“No!” Mrs. Wheatley’s shout echoed through the room several times. “You know the rule. It stays.”

“Not if I have anything to say about it. I will take full responsibility for her.”

For a moment, Changeling froze. She’d heard the phrase “full responsibility” a few times before because it was something Mr. Gordon or Mrs. Wheatley would always ask the visitors about when they wanted to adopt somebody. And now, Tomoya was saying it about her. She almost didn’t want to believe it. Nobody had ever bothered to ask what was in the cage, let alone adopt the little girl inside. She finally gathered the courage to turn around and look Tomoya in the eyes again. The gentle smile on his face told her everything she needed to know.

Mr. Wheatley turned to his wife with questions in his eyes. “What do we do now?”

“Well, I suppose it would be wrong to deny a chance for adoption…” Mrs. Wheatley pinched her nose and looked down, pressing her lips together. Finally, she sighed. “Very well. You may have the changeling. Honey, open the cage.”

Mr. Wheatley nodded reluctantly, then walked away, coming back with a ring of keys. He opened the padlock that had been placed on her door and let the cage door swing wide open.

Changeling hesitated for a moment before slowly crawling out of the kennel. She looked around, nervous. It had been a very long time since somebody let her out of the cage, and she was almost certain that Mr. and Mrs. Wheatley were going to snap at her. When a considerable amount of time had passed and neither of them said or did anything other than eye her expectantly, she ran up to Tomoya and hugged him.

“Thank you!” she shouted, tears of joy filling her eyes.

“No problem, kid.” Tomoya tousled the girl’s hair and then held her little hand, turning around and walking towards the door.

“You  _ will _ end up regretting this decision!” Mrs. Wheatley called out after the two as they left. Neither of them paid attention.

“So,” Tomoya asked his new daughter, “what’s your name?”

“I’m Changeling.” She smiled, proud of her name despite the meaning it carried. Changeling felt light on her feet for the first time since Grey left with his new family. She’d finally found a forever home, just like Mr. Gordon had wanted for her.

“Can I call you Angel?”

Changeling cocked her head to the side just a bit. “Angel-ling?” Tomoya laughed as he shook his head. 

“Just Angel.”

“Angel? I like it!”


End file.
